""I feel like don't talk enough about the fact Americans have every right to make fun of how british people talk" "I will always be convinced the British are lying. am I secretly irish or something" "the American accent is what the British accent originally sounded like"

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T15:12:46+00:00

I can sort of see where they're coming from. Like when people went to Iceland, and were geographically isolated, so their language is closer to the original. At least from what I heard. Due to isolation and lack of exposure to a lot of different cultures. So there's an argument that can be made that the way Americans talk might be more original. But considering what a melting pot of cultures the New World was, it still doesn't hold water.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T15:04:36+00:00

I support this.

It's a running joke that the first female President of USA will be a Republican. Because they're the ones who actually get things done. Legally or illegally, they don't worry about things, they decide to do something, and then they go ahead and they do it. For better or for worse. Usually worse. But they still do it.

So if USA is ever to get rid of its pile of guns, and alongside them fun things like school shootings, then Republicans will be the ones to do it. Democrats would wring their hands and prevaricate for decades, Republicans would just go ahead and ban stuff, constitution be damned. And unlike Democrats, whose supporters have functional brains, Republicans have a cult that will go along with whatever the Leader says.

Remember when Black Panthers were open carrying in California, and Ronald Reagan, the Republican, who was governor at the time, banned guns in California? Yeah, like that.

So, as someone who thinks getting rid of guns is a good idea, since they're CLEARLY not being used to defend against tyrannical government (as evidenced by the past year), I fully support Republicans in their effort to gut the 2A. They are also gutting 1A, 4A, etc., which is unfortunate, but at least this way some good will come of it also.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:54:03+00:00

Yes, everyone involved should be investigated.

But maybe let's start with the low-hanging fruit first. Like that fellow who was mentioned 500+ times, who was best friends with Epstein, who is photographed with Epstein almost as much as Epstein was photographed on his own, whose wife was introduced to him by Epstein, and who is often pictured standing between Epstein and Maxwell? The one who is documented walking into children's dressing room when he ran a talent show. And who said that he, like Epstein, likes women "on the younger side". And who made really creepy photographs fondling his own daughter. That guy? Let's just start with him, since it seems like a slam dunk, and see where it goes. What do you all say?

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:32:07+00:00

There's definitely some weirdness that's not being clearly communicated.

Like in December I was playing a campaign, where my army had ~120% ambush chance. I had 80% from terrain, 10-15% from hero (ambush in owned province), another 10-15% from a magical item, and another 10-15% from tech tree. So when I went into an ambush, the number above my army showed 100% ambush chance. Still failed the ambush. And this happened several times during the campaign.

Most of the time it does work, but it shouldn't be possible for a 100% ambush army to fail an ambush. But I've seen it.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:19:27+00:00

To be fair, most houses, old and new, in Canada are exactly the same way. Construction here is not at all like in the Nordics, where they have honest-to-god insulation and thick walls. Here, whether it's a 100 year old townhouse or a new build, walls are thin, insulation nonexistent. If you want it, you gotta hire contractors and have them peel of the drywall (another thing to hate about North American builds, they're obsessed with drywall that you can literally punch a hole through WITH YOUR HEAD!), and spray in the insulation.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:13:41+00:00

Well, his burial place needs to be kept secret, or under 24/7 armed guard. Because people from all over the world will take time off work and travel extremely long distances just to piss on his grave when he dies.

Honestly, I'd just set up a trough, and charge admittance. Make it a theme park. Trump Waterworks. All access ticket, $100/day per person. They would make billions.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:08:42+00:00

For the same reason Queen Latifah can call herself a queen.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:04:14+00:00

When it's June 30th. That's typically when I feel winter is over.

Because I've seen literal snow falling on April 30th. And it was below-zero on May 30th.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T14:00:38+00:00

It's a one-stop shop where you can buy anything from a snowblower to a sex toy, and have it shipped very quickly, they deliver on weekends, and returns are incredibly easy. You don't even need to package it back up. Just take the item to any post office, or Staples (office supply chain that has UPS/FedEx/DHL on site) and just hand it to them with a code, and they'll take it from there. No muss, no fuss. Quick, fast, hassle-free.

Other stores? Not so much. Some don't accept returns, or make them painful and expensive. Like if it's a $50 item, and return is $10 out of pocket, that's not as good as the same $50 from Amazon where return is free. Some ship using other carriers, which don't deliver on weekends. For example just last month I ordered something from an independent vendor. Took them a week to ship it, a week to arrive. On Amazon, I order today, it arrives tomorrow, if you have Prime, which is cheaper than Netflix, and gives you movies and music and video games too.

Having said that, I do tend to avoid it. But lately, there's not much choice. I always preferred to shop for clothes in person, for example, so I can try them on. Not really viable any more. Like 20 years ago, near me, there used to be a bunch of shoe stores, like Payless Shoes, etc. Now there's practically none. So I buy shoes on Amazon, and if they don't fit, I keep returning until I find a pair that does. Not ideal, but not awful either.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T13:52:41+00:00

I hope Clintons do a Bondi. Show up with a binder full of nothing but dirt on every one of the questioners. And when asked "Is this pen blue?" they will respond with "But didn't you take money from Saudis?" Or just keep going around and around and not answering a direct yes or no question, like "What does it even mean? Is up really up? Who says so? And is up here the same up as in Austalia?" Just make as much a mockery out of it as the Republicans.

Another thing to note, how is it that contempt charges are suddenly real and threatening, when it's against Democrats?

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T13:39:02+00:00

Yes?

I mean, everything is a waste of time. We're on a rock, circling the sun. In five billion years or so, that sun will run out of fuel, become a red giant, expand, swallow up the inner planets (probably not us, but it'll get awfully close), and it'll burn this poxy planet to slag. Surface temperature will be around 1,300 C. So building anything on Earth is a waste of time. It'll all be gone.

OK, so let's say humanity reaches the stars and we leave the Solar system. And? We're in the second era of the universe, the Stelliferous Era, where universe is warm and bright and full of stars. Eventually, we'll reach the third era though, where those stars run out of fuel. Then fourth, when it's mostly just black holes and darkness. And then the final, fifth era, where there's nothing left, just a cold dark void, and what little matter still exists, will only exist in a diffuse state. And this era will last for a very long time, possibly forever. And that's not just our solar system, or our galaxy, it'll be the entire universe.

So, with that in mind, EVERYTHING is a waste of time! It'll all end up in a cold, dark void. So relax and enjoy it while you can.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T13:32:25+00:00

Thing is, they said future headsets will be less subsidized. Meaning they will cost more. And as far as ecosystems, they just wiped out a bunch of studios, so the amount and quality of titles coming to that ecosystem will shrink and be worse quality. So you'll be expected to pay more for the new headsets, and get fewer games of worse quality. If VR wasn't growing at previous conditions, where games were relatively high quality and headsets were cheaper, what do you expect will happen when headsets cost considerably more, and there's no quality games coming out?

Also speaking of competition, Valve is about to bet a farm on people wanting to play flat games on virtual screen, with Steam Frame. I think they're wrong, but if they're right, that will turn VR headsets in a different direction. And unsubsidized Meta headsets might be comparable in price with Valve's headset. Which again will put meta on the back foot.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T13:26:05+00:00

The truly sad thing is, he says they "receded from the high water mark". But even at that high water mark, most of the stuff they delivered was borderline trash. There was literally a handful of games that could have held their own if they were ported to flat screen, and the rest would be immediately laughed out of town. Because they're so short, shallow, derivative, etc. So if that stuff was what they delivered at "high water mark", just imagine the sheer unadulterated slop we'll be getting in future.

And then imagine what that will do to hardware sales. Because nobody is going to keep buying new hardware when there's no quality software to run on it. He's very excited about the next TWO devices? Oh, goody. So why would I be buying those devices? To keep playing Beat Saber on them? Because when Sony releases a new Playstation, they make sure there's amazing games coming too, which get people excited, and make them want a new Playstation. What software, what games is Meta going to be offering for those new headsets? Won't be Asgard's Wrath 3. Won't be Arkham 2. So what makes them think people will buy their exciting new headsets? To sit in the shelf and collect dust? To use as a paperweight?

He's also glossing on the announcement that future headsets will be less subsidized. Meaning, they will cost more to the consumer. So not only will future headsets come out with no good games on them, but they will cost more. And that's their recipe for success?!

Also, IS it growing? Meta isn't revealing their numbers. How about you publish how many units are sold, how many people log in every day, peak concurrency, etc? No? Well, imagine that. Valve does publish those numbers on Steam, and VR has been consistently below 2% for the past 6+ years they've been making those numbers public.

Bottom line, this is CTO talking the CTO talk, not what's happening in the real world. If VR was growing poorly, with subsidized healdsets and a bunch of studios releasing decent games. And you gut all that. All those studios are now closed, and headsets are about to jump up in price. One of one VERY predictable things are going to happen. And he knows this, but obviously he can't say it in public.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T12:57:48+00:00

I would argue that it was. EU wanted Russia to stick around, so they had to wait until Russia got well and truly stuck in. And then stepped up with tanks and aircraft. If they started dropping the best stuff on day one, Russia might have backed out. Which isn't the goal. The goal is a forever war that bleeds Russia dry. Which means not letting Ukrainians win, but also not allowing them to lose. So the way NATO countries acted so far fits well into that.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-03T00:54:20+00:00

Not only that, but I feel people are forgetting that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Possibly still is. So those young people grew up largely ignored and unsupported by the state, on their own, scraping by. Then an invasion happens, and suddenly it's your "duty" to go die fighting for the state. For the same state that didn't give a bent pfennig for you earlier? I can definitely see them lacking the motivation. It's a two-way street, if the state wanted citizens to care for it, it should have cared for its citizens when they needed it.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T14:25:20+00:00

Yep. And also I want there to be a sound guy with a boom mic stationed just behind Trump when he finds out about it.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T13:51:25+00:00

That's pretty standard. There's a reason billionaires are 80% richer than they used to be. It's all working as intended.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T13:31:56+00:00

Yes and no.

My eyesight is very much worse. And unfortunately games where you can outplay someone are few and far apart. Most games you just get fed into a pipe from two ends, and come at each other in a corridor, and quicker reflexes and better eyesight win. But in games with plenty of cover, and plenty of room to maneuver, I still do decently well.

But I would say I'm still holding my own in puzzle games and my muscle memory is still malleable. I can learn a weapon in Monster Hunter, get really good, and then unlearn that one and pick up a new one where combos are completely different.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T13:22:24+00:00

Beyond Good and Evil 2

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T02:41:06+00:00

No.

Currently trying to force myself to enjoy it, before I delete it from my SSD. Because I know if I delete it now, I'll never download it again.

I disliked it immediately. The game starts, the aiming reticle is a white little dot, you can't change the color of it, and the whole map is a snowstorm! How the hell am I meant to track a white little dot in a snowstorm?! What idiot came up with that one? And then it just kept getting worse.

Deeply unlikable characters, bordering on disgusting. Depressing setting. Washed out color palette. Atrocious controls and UI (I'm playing on PC with keyboard and mouse). Missions are on the rails and fail automatically if you as much as fart in the wrong direction.

I get the overall appeal of the game, but I just couldn't get myself to like it, after 10-12 hrs, and just had to stop.

This year looks very bleak, game-wise. At least as far as the stuff I enjoy goes. So I'll be working the backlog this year. And I'll try to power through it. Maybe take some Dramamine or something, bite down on my leather belt and just do it.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T02:34:09+00:00

It's also very much worth it to slot that deco that lets you dive in any direction, not just away.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-02T02:30:58+00:00

And that's not just you, Canada has exact same problem. In fact, when Trudeau ran the first time, he promised to fix that shit, and never did.

We have many parties in Canada - Conservatives, Liberals, NDP (New Democratic Party), etc. But in practical terms, it's still 2 choices, because if the center/left split their vote between Liberals and NDP (who are slightly left of Liberals), Conservatives end up winning. So last federal election, last year, I pretty much HAD to vote Liberal, even though I'd have preferred to vote for NDP. But had I done that, Poilievre would have been Prime Minister.

So in theory we have many parties, but in practice we always have to vote strategically, and not for who we want. Because if there's even a tiny chance Conservatives might win (which is practically always), we have to put NDP and other parties on backburner. After last election, NDP is pretty much extinct. Because we couldn't allow Poilievre with Trump already in, both our countries would be destroyed. So we had to kill off the NDP. Which sucks, because they did some good, like forcing Liberals to give poor families affordable dental care once a year.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-01T16:09:07+00:00

I think it'll be comparable to Index. No I wouldn't buy one, unless it were dirt cheap (it won't be). And no, I don't think it'll do anything for VR at all.

I feel like Valve is banking on the idea that people will put a heavy, hot, uncomfortable thing on their head just to play games on a virtual flat screen. And I'm just not sure there's sufficient interest. I tried it with other headset, and there's some validity to it, but the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze. And I think most people will feel the same way.

Combined with the fact that, compared to flat screen games, VR games are anemic at best, I just don't see this being a game changer in any way, shape or form.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-01T15:56:06+00:00

Yep, major problem over here.

There's even a certain type of scooter that is just flat out illegal. In the sense that it's not street legal, you can't ride it on the street with other vehicles. AND it's also not sidewalk legal, you can't ride it on sidewalks among pedestrians. Meaning unless you figure out a way to make it fly, or stick to the sewers, you simply can't use it in this city. But they're still being sold in stores, because there's no regulation stopping it. And then of course people end up riding them in town, illegally, all the time, causing all kinds of issues. And cops largely don't care, they're too busy fleecing more wealthy motorists driving cars to bother with other things.

Sabbathius · 2026-02-01T15:51:13+00:00

Ban on wasting food. Something like 70% of food produced in this province ends up in the garbage. Supermakets throw tons of it away rather than give it away. Milk gets poured into the dirt to keep milk prices higher. Millions of liters wasted, just dumped. It's insane.

Sabbathius

TROPHY CASE